508 FETCH : 



In 1882 further trials were made, the outer pajiery bark 

 being peeled off and oblique incisions made with a knife, the 

 latter having proved the best of the tools tried. Short joints 

 of bamboo were used to catch the latex when it flowed freely. 

 Twenty ounces of dry rubber were obtained from nine or ten 

 trees (apparently in three or four tappings), most of it in 

 strings which were rolled into balls. The balls were valued 

 by Messrs. Silver at 2s. 9d. to 3s. per lb., but part of which 

 was sticky and mixed with sand was said to be worth only 

 Is. to Is. Zd. 



Li 1883 there were 977 acres under Ceara rubber in Ceylon 

 (Trimen), and the planting community was eagerly waiting to 

 know whether to plant further extensions of Ceara or to 

 continue the rush into tea. Many of the Ceara trees were 

 three to four years old, and it was known from Trimen's 

 reports that the rubber even in the young trees was of good 

 quaht}'. Tapping experiments were instituted wherever 

 possible, and " rubber " provided the chief topic of discussion 

 in the local press. Ceara grew amazmgly well, but the 

 problem was how to get sufficient rubber out of it to pay the 

 cost of tapping. All imaginable tapping sj^stems were tried. 

 The papery outer bark was peeled off, and obUque incisions 

 made with a sharp knife, or the inner green layer was punctured 

 all over. Gilhatt, who was one of tht) chief experimenters, 

 made long vertical cuts, about 6 inches apart, from as high as 

 a cooly could reach down to 3 or 4 inches from the base of the 

 tree, four cuts being made at the first tapping, to be followed 

 by others thirty days later ; in this system the outer papery 

 bark was not removed. 



Patent knives soon made their appearance. Dobree's knife 

 consisted of two parallel blades, and was intended to remove 

 a strip of cortex which could be replaced after tapping ! 

 There is a knife of that description now in the Peradeniya 

 Museum. Ciliiatt's knife, which met with most approval, 

 had two cutting edges meeting to form a V, the point of which 

 ran along the cambium ; it appears to have been practically 

 the Eastorn Produce and Estates Co.'s knife of Hevea tapping, 

 but I have not seen a specimen of it. Although all the 

 tapping was done by single cuts {i.e., without re-opening the 



